GONE FISHIN'
by Tribeca
Summary: "Deleted" scene from 6.10. *complete*


**A/N: Four weeks and counting with no interaction between Sheldon and Penny. They are apparently on two different shows now. Or two different planets.**

**If you didn't watch I'll bottom line if for you: Nice storyline with Howard and his in-laws. He needed to learn how to fish and Penny was elected to teach him how to hook a worm because she's "manly". Errrggg. Amy got sick, Sheldon took care of her per the stipulations in their Relationship Agreement. He rubbed vaporub on her chest, ran a bath for her, etc. (And for those of you who asked-no, he didn't sing Soft Kitty to her.) Amy put a sexual spin on just about everything he did in his effort to take care of her. Sheldon was, as always, oblivious. She got better but pretended to still be sick so he would stay around and continue doing those things. She confessed this to Bernadette. When he found out, he said she needed to receive some type of punishment. Hence the spanking scene at the end. I don't want to be all preachy here, so I'll keep my opinion to myself except to say that mostly Sheldon was beyond out of character. The Sheldon Lee Cooper we used to know and love is no more. And that's just sad.**

**About this fic: This is just simple and very basic, certainly nothing earth shattering. Just doing my very small part to keep the Shenny Ship afloat. Since this is the forth week in a row with absolutely no scenes with Sheldon and Penny, I really had to reach for this one. I tired to incorporate elements of the episode into the fic to tie it together. I stayed with the fishing theme because really, that was sweet and I could appreciate the sentiment. I was disappointed that Sheldon wasn't involved in that discussion. That storyline reminded me of the episode where Sheldon had to teach Leonard about football. Very folksy and I liked it. Sheldon and Penny both come from the Heartland of America. They were born and raised there and those roots run deep. It's a characteristic that can't be undone. **

**To my sweet, insightful, funny and awesome readers of this weekly mess of mine-thank you so much for the reviews, the PMs and the good and kind words. And just know that I feel your pain. It's crazy, the emotion this show and this paring bring out in us, but it's still very real. Don't let anyone discount how you feel because feelings are real and no one can dictate what you feel or should feel. Just…_feel_.**

**GONE FISHIN'**

"_Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." Henry David Thoreau_

P: hey moonpie u still takin care of ur gurlfren?

S: Your syntax and grammar are appalling and atrocious.

P: Sorrreeeee! So r ya?

S: It appears my girlfriend didn't need me as badly as she claimed. I discovered she was deceiving me. Thank God I had my bus pants with me. I'm secured with bungee cords and on my way home.

P: OIC stop by my apt when you get here

S: Penny, were you aware of this deception?

P: nope B just told me

S: I feel taken advantage of.

Penny ran her fingers over the keypad of her phone: u should…but then she deleted it.

As much she agreed with his assessment, Amy _had_ taken advantage of Sheldon's innocence, she didn't want to get in the middle of whatever it was that was going on between the two of them. After deleting her comment, she instead sent him a smiley face and reminded him to stop by.

…

He began his signature knock and she waited as always for him to finish.

"Hello," he huffed when she pulled the door open. She thought he looked tired and maybe a little sad.

"Hey Sheldon. Want to come in?"

"Well, I don't know. Do I? _You_ ask me to stop by. I intended to go to my apartment to shower and get in bed. I desire to be rid of this day."

She smiled up at him, "Aw, Sheldon, don't be too upset. She just wanted to be with you."

"You condone her behavior?"

"Don't ask me. I'm not getting in the middle of something between you and Amy."

He sighed and pulled out his pocket watch to check the time.

"Can we please dispense with this banal chit chat? Was there a reason you wanted to see me?"

"God Sheldon. Sorry I'm bothering you with my chit chat…"

"Your _banal_ chit chat."

"Yeah, whatever. Do you have any plans in the morning?"

"Well, it's Saturday. I do like to wake up early and have cereal and watch Doctor Who."

"Oh yeah. Well, I've got a big tub of worms that I was using earlier to teach Howard how to fish and I don't know…I was thinking that I kind of miss fishing and I know you told me once you used to fish when you were a kid in Texas. I just thought, I don't know, maybe you'd like to go fishing with me early in the morning."

"Fishing Penny? Really? Isn't that a bit pedestrian?"

She sighed, "Never mind. I just thought…well, we never spend any time together anymore. And you know sometimes I just need to do stuff I did when I was growing up in Nebraska. Sometimes I kind of miss…_nature_. Playing around with those worms just reminded me how relaxing fishing can be. You grew up around the same kind of stuff I did and I just thought it would be nice. Just…go home Sheldon…I'm sorry I bothered you. I'll throw the worms away."

They said their goodbyes and she watched as he stomped across the hall and went into his apartment. She had just got in bed when she received his text.

S: I'll be at your door at six a.m. Be prepared to fish.

P: I'll bring the worms! :P

S: Good night Penny.

P: nite sweetie

S: Good Lord.

…

"How'd you know about this place?"

"Penny, you know I make it a point to know about the terrain surrounding where I live and work."

"Oh yeah, part of your emergency preparedness plans, right?"

"Well, you never know when zombies may attack and the grocery stores will be cleaned out. We could very well be responsible for providing our own food sources."

"So that's why you had the fishing rods?"

He grinned down at her and reached to pull a low hanging branch away from the dirt path they were following.

"Yes. And this land we are on actually belongs to the university. It's not common knowledge because it's not being utilized as of yet. The board has plans to eventually build here in the future. Oh, and in case you plan on texting your friends about all the various things that you _heart_, you should know that we have no cell phone reception out here."

She rolled her eyes and continued to follow him until they came to a clearing away from the towering trees.

"Oh," she stopped and stared as they approached the large body of water, "Sheldon, it's beautiful. You called this a pond, it's a lake! This is gorgeous."

"And peaceful," he said, Texas twang seeping into his tone.

"When I was a kid my daddy would get me up early on Saturday mornings and take me out on the pond behind our house. We'd fish till noon," she intimated to him, "it was my favorite thing."

"Yeah, my dad did the same with me. Always on Saturday mornings. He'd leave a note in the kitchen for my mom and it always said the same thing."

She grinned up at him, "What'd it say?"

"He always wrote _Gone Fishin'_ and I never failed to point out he left the 'g' off of fishing and he'd just laugh and laugh. He said only city slickers called it 'fishing' because they didn't know what they were doing. But country folks dropped the 'g' and knew exactly what they were doing."

She giggled, "I think our dads would have liked each other."

"Yeah," he sighed, "me too. Well, they would have liked each other if my dad was sober when they met."

They settled onto the wooden dock that extended out over the water and dropped their baited lines into the lake. She didn't speak because he had reminded her that a big part of fishing was just being _quiet_. Her daddy had taught her that when she was a little girl and she remembered that then, just as now, it was the hardest part about fishing. She knew it was Sheldon's way of telling her that he didn't want to participate in jibber jabber.

They sat a few feet apart, their legs dangling over the side of the dock, both lost in their own thoughts. She was surprised when his voice cut through the stillness of the early morning air.

"Why would Amy do that to me?"

"What?"

"Feign illness. I don't understand. I need…well, I need you to help me understand. I have been attempting to navigate the waters of mine and Amy's pair bonded relationship and in all of my research I never came across anything about one's girlfriend pretending to be sick."

Penny sighed and shot her eyes over to him. She wished she could just be honest with him and tell him that she really hated the dishonest stunt Amy had pulled, but she knew it wasn't her place to judge.

"Sheldon, I haven't talked to Amy so it's not fair for me to say why she did it. I can only tell you that I think maybe she just likes spending time with you."

"So she felt it necessary to lie to me to accomplish her goal of spending time with me?"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, I'm not Amy so I can't speak for her."

Quietness settled in around them and Penny shifted her weight and pulled at her line. She jiggled the rod and huffed because she hadn't even had a nibble yet. She noted that Sheldon hadn't either.

Sheldon watched her from the corner of his eye and fought the smiled that threatened to slip across his face. He missed spending time with Penny. Since she and Leonard had resumed their relationship and he and Amy had increased the frequency of their time spent together he and Penny had become almost strangers. He missed having dinner with her and playing video games with her and he even missed tripping over the mess in her apartment on his numerous visits to her.

He jiggled his own line and watched as the flotation marker danced across the water's surface.

"I miss spending time with you," he said quietly and she turned and shrugged at him.

"I miss you too Sheldon."

"Why don't we see each other anymore Penny?"

"Sweetie I don't know. You have Amy and I have Leonard and well, relationships take up a lot of time. We have work and other stuff and then time with them and well, I guess there just isn't much left over."

"So we are just leftovers? At the end of the day, the only thing we mean to each other is leftovers?"

She laughed and tried to keep her smile in place, "Well, it sounds bad when you say it like that. Besides, I drove you crazy, remember? You stayed mad at me all the time. I thought you'd be happy not to have me around you so much."

More time passed than she would have liked and she thought he was satisfied with her answer until he spoke again.

"Well, I drove you crazy too. And you stayed mad at me. Maybe you are the one who is happy that I'm not around anymore."

She slowly reeled her line in and pulled it out of the water and placed it beside her on the dock. She stood and moved towards him and sat down, nudging him with her shoulder.

"I was never really mad at you," she whispered.

"Nor I you," he said shyly, adding "And I'm not happy without you in my life."

She watched as he reeled his line in and drew it out of the water. He turned to face her.

"I deceived you Penny."

"What?"

"The university had the limnology students remove the wildlife and place it in a sustainable alternative because they will be draining the pond in the coming months."

"I don't know what that means. English please?"

"There are no fish in this pond."

"Oh," she studied him momentarily. "Why'd you do that?"

"Well, I learned it from Amy. I guess I lied to spend time with someone I wanted to be with."

"Sheldon!" She poked him in the side and he gasped.

He smiled and lifted his hands in the air, gesturing at the scenery, "Well, look around. Is there anywhere else you'd rather be than here? I thought you would enjoy it."

She grinned at him, "Then you were right. And there's no one else I'd rather be sitting here with."

"So it is acceptable to you that I was fraudulent in my reasons to bring you here?"

"No, it's not. You should never lie to someone you care about. Besides, you didn't have to lie. I would have come here with you no matter what. You should know that."

"Well Amy says she cares about me, but she lied to me."

She looped her arm though his and bounced her heels against the wood posts below her.

"Sheldon, please. Don't put me in the position to judge Amy or her actions. You have to figure that out for yourself."

"I see."

They were quite until she spoke again.

"Did you sing Soft Kitty to her?" she asked quietly.

"No," he whispered, "I couldn't. That's _our _song. I sang The Elements song by Tom Lehrer."

She laughed, surprised at how happy it made her that he hadn't shared _their_ song with anyone else.

"I'm glad."

"Spend more time with me Penny. I don't like how things are."

"Hey, you are the guy that schedules everything. Even your bowel movements. _Ewww_, by the way. So you just put me on your schedule and I'll be there."

"I'm sorry I lied to you."

"I know. This one time it's okay. I'm glad you did. Just don't do it again okay?"

"Okay."

…

Leonard stumbled out of bed and shuffled to the door. He wondered why Sheldon wasn't up yet.

"Hello Leonard," Amy said, shifting her weight and adjusting the strap of her shoulder bag, "Is Sheldon in? I've been calling him but he's not answering his phone."

"I don't know Amy. I was sleeping so I haven't seen him. He's usually up by now, come on in."

Leonard went to check Sheldon's bedroom only to discover that he wasn't there.

He offered a seat to Amy and then went to make coffee. He found Sheldon's note beside the coffee maker:

_Gone Fishin'…Doctor Sheldon Cooper_

"This can't be good," Leonard mumbled, pulling out his phone to call his girlfriend. He wasn't surprised when his call went straight to Penny's voicemail.


End file.
